Chapter 1
Alessia’s first order was not for Garrett to be beaten.
It was for everyone to stop moving.
Two bodyguards had already started toward him.
“Back.”
They stopped.
Garrett remained among the wreckage of the collapsed banquet console, soaked from the fountain and bleeding lightly from his mouth.
Evelyn stood several feet away.
Miriam was the only person Alessia cared about.
“Mom?”
“I’m fine.”
“You hit the floor hard.”
“I said I’m fine.”
Alessia knew that tone.
Miriam had used it through every difficult year of Alessia’s childhood.
Fine meant she did not want to become a problem.
Tonight Alessia refused to accept it.
“Doctor.”
A physician who attended many Carbone events was brought from the other side of the ballroom.
Miriam had bruising along her hip and a badly strained wrist from trying to catch herself.
Nothing appeared broken.
Alessia still arranged hospital imaging.
Garrett laughed from the floor.
“All this because she fell?”
Alessia turned.
“She fell because you kicked her.”
“You assaulted me.”
“Yes.”
Her answer silenced him.
Alessia was not going to rewrite what had just happened.
She had struck first after Garrett laughed at her demand for an apology.
His later charge had justified stopping him.
The first punch had been anger.
She knew the difference.
So would the cameras.
Garrett seemed to think of those cameras at the exact same moment.
He looked toward the ceiling.
Then toward one of the guests.
“Make sure every second of that footage is preserved.”
Alessia frowned.
The man Garrett addressed was not a capo.
He was Charles Renner, outside counsel for Carbone Hospitality, one of Alessia’s legitimate companies.
Why Garrett had invited corporate counsel to a family gala had never occurred to her until now.
Charles looked uncomfortable.
“I’m not handling anyone’s personal dispute.”
“Good,” Alessia said. “Neither am I.”
She turned toward security.
“Preserve everything. Give copies to my attorney and the police when requested.”
Several relatives stared at her.
Garrett did too.
“You’re calling the police?”
“You assaulted my mother.”
“And you broke my face.”
“Then you can tell them that.”
Evelyn stepped forward.
“Alessia, think very carefully about what you’re doing.”
Alessia looked at her.
“I just did.”
Miriam was taken to the hospital.
Garrett and Evelyn left separately through the front entrance.
No one dragged them.
No threats followed them into the driveway.
Before Garrett stepped into his car, he looked back at Alessia.
There was anger in his face.
But underneath it was something that did not belong there.
Calculation.
By nine the next morning, Alessia understood why.
Garrett had filed for legal separation.
Along with it came a request for a temporary protective order describing Alessia Carbone as violent, unstable, and dangerous.
That part did not surprise her.
The next request did.
Garrett asked the court to prevent Alessia from interfering with several legitimate businesses they had both been involved with during the marriage.
Including the Carbone Relief Foundation.
May you like
A family charity Garrett did not own.
A foundation Miriam had served as treasurer for eleven years.
